The Empire’s new digs

Christine Carrie FienA future Empire? This building at 500 Lee Road may house the plastics manufacturer.

The
future of PaeTec Park and the future of Empire Precision Plastics are indelibly
linked. The oft-delayed ground-breaking for Rochester's soccer stadium will not
happen until the parties involved have found a new home for Empire. And, more
importantly, until it is decided who is going to pay for the relocation.

"We're working on it. At least it
seems like it has their attention now," says Empire President Neal Elli. "I
think that they [city hall, the Rhinos] were focusing on things that were more
problematic in the deal and the Empire relocation sat at a lower precedence."

Empire Precision Plastics, a
manufacturer of injection molded plastic parts, is located at 460 Oak Street, a
short distance from the future site of PaeTec Park. The Rochester Rhinos plan
to lease the 26,000-square-foot building for the team's administrative office,
locker rooms, and team store.

RES Exhibit Services, 435 Smith
Street, is also relocating because of the stadium's potentially adverse impact
on the business. The company is moving to Webster after an appropriate city
site could not be found, according to Rochester Mayor Bill Johnson.

RES' current building will probably
be demolished, Johnson says.

Empire wasn't part of the initial
stadium plans, Elli says. But he had concerns all along about operating so
closely to PaeTec.

"The potential for disruption to my
business, which needs to be available to run 24 hours a day, seven days a week,
is pretty significant," he says. "The impact on parking and truck traffic in
and out of the building is significant. So, once the city realized that was
true, the mayor committed that they would find a way to make me whole on this."

A probable new
site for
Empire has been identified at 500 Lee Road in the city. It is owned by Maguire
Properties, the same company that owns the current Empire building. The site
sits on a large commercial strip of road. The complex itself houses many
different businesses. Empire is eyeing a 31,000-square-foot section.

The stumbling block is money. When
the relocation plan first came up, Elli and others were asked to put together a
cost estimate for the move.

"We did it to the best of our
effort. But every location has a unique location cost," Elli says. "We have a
lot of internal structure. There are office upgrades just to have the correct
size office."

The numbers, according to Mitch
Rowe, assistant to Rochester's deputy mayor, were based on some quick
assumptions.

"[They weren't] based on sending
people out and inspecting the space, writing it up," he says. "And a number of
them were wrong."

When the company did a more detailed
estimate later on, the cost was much higher.

"It didn't double, but it was a
pretty significant increase," Elli says.

Johnson says the increase is within
reason and that the parties involved are about $200,000 short of the funding
needed for the move.

Even though the initial estimates
were off, Elli says the situation would still be the same because nobody
originally thought Empire would have to move.

"They didn't have any money in any
budget for this to begin with," he says.

Total cost of the move will be
"several hundred thousand dollars," Rowe says. The cost will be shared by the
city, the state, Maguire Properties, and the Rhinos. A deal to distribute that
cost is being worked out.

"Everybody's trying to think out of
the box," Rowe says. "Everybody's trying to figure out ways to bring the cost
down and to save time."

The city's share of the move has yet
to be determined. The city is also contributing about $3.5 million for
infrastructure and road improvements related to the stadium.

Empire will not contribute directly
to the move, but relocation will cost the company in terms of disruption to the
business, Elli says, and in other immeasurable ways.

"The goal is that I won't have any
hard expenses associated with the move," he says. "This should not cost Empire
anything."

While a deal
is being
worked out, Elli is losing business and Rochester is losing patience.
Ground-breaking for the $23 million stadium has been delayed so often, neither
the city nor the team will now discuss a possible date.

"I think once we have an agreement
in principle, then we can go ahead with the ground breaking," Rowe says. "The
Rhinos don't need to immediately get into the building that Empire's in now.
They have offices at Frontier [Field]. Until the stadium's up and ready to
open, they don't need to be in that building."

Empire has had to turn away
business, Elli says, because of the uncertainty.

"I could not commit because of the
stadium," he says. "It [the job] was in excess of a quarter-of-a-million
dollars. It would have contributed almost $70,000 overhead in profit. That's
the impact."

The cost of the move is made higher
by the fact that there will be almost no down time between the closing of the
Oak Street site and the opening on Lee Road.

"We can plan to be shut down [for]
three to five business days, but after that, I can't possibly build enough
inventory to meet my customers' requirement," Elli says. "That's one of the
reasons why the cost is so high."

The city has worked tirelessly, Elli
adds, to try to make the deal for the move. "But this is a tough market, and so
money isn't just sitting there for them to go and draw from."

Once ground is
broken,
work on the stadium will go on through the winter. The goal, according to
Rhinos president Frank DuRoss, is to play at least some home games at PaeTec
Park in 2004.

"I know that they would love to be
in the new stadium around the September timeframe," says stadium project
manager Jon Barrett of LeChase Construction. "Our goal is going to be to
expedite the work and get it done for the fall. Early fall, if possible."

"Once we know a little more about
the ground breaking, then I think a lot more details will come pouring out," he
adds. "I'm just reluctant to say the wrong thing. It's changed so many times on
us. I'm kind of gun-shy now."

The stadium will be a multi-purpose
facility, also home to the Rochester Rattlers --- a Major League lacrosse team.
DuRoss says that there's a great deal of buzz around PaeTec Park.

"It's kind of hard to make firm
commitments," he says. "But I can tell you we've had a lot of phone calls,
discussions, and negotiations with numerous tenants to use it."